Clean N Fresh Instant Hand Sanitizer

Last Updated on August 6, 2020

EDITOR’S NOTES:

• We’ve had comments asking if Clean N Fresh Hand Sanitizer is part of the FDA recall. As of August 1, 2020, the answer is no. You can find the full list on the FDA recall page.
• Since we posted this review, we’ve had several people comment that their bottle smells bad. It turns out this smell has to do with changes to the manufacturing process due to sanitizer shortage. You can read more here. 

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While proper hand washing is still the most effective way to prevent transmission of disease from your hands to your body, that’s not always possible, such as when you’re out shopping. In those instances, hand sanitizer containing either isopropyl or ethyl alcohol is a helpful thing to have around, as it is a highly useful cleaning agent, both for the convenience factor as well as its overall ability to kill most viruses and bacteria.

It’s no secret that, at the time of this post, hand sanitizer is one of a few items in high demand. At our local Aldi stores, Aldi’s private-label Source Hand Sanitizer has been hard to find. I’m sure a lot of that is because of consumer demand, and we’ve also seen some of it finding its way to the Aldi checkout lanes for worker use. I don’t have a problem with that — they surely need it more than I do, and I don’t doubt that many other retailers are having to do this — but it adds to the challenge of finding hand sanitizer inside Aldi.

During a recent trip to Aldi, though, we did notice hand sanitizer on the shelf … but it wasn’t Aldi hand sanitizer. Instead, it was another brand, one we’ve never seen in our store before. We were in need of hand sanitizer, so we picked up a bottle. (Aldi had a sign posted limiting sanitizer bottles to one per customer.)

Clean N Fresh Instant Hand Sanitizer is a Regular Buy … I think. I don’t know if it’s a temporary solution to an Aldi sanitizer shortage or something meant to be around for a while. Either way, it’s not an Aldi Find or a Seasonal Favorite: you’re not going to find it in the weekly ad. It’s found in the aisle with other personal care products and cleaning products. It’s manufactured by CarrollCLEAN, a Texas-based supplier of cleaning products.

The hand sanitizer costs $3.29 for an 8-ounce bottle, or about 41.1 cents an ounce. This is several times more expensive than the 12 cents an ounce I pay for Aldi hand sanitizer, and it is a lot more than the 16 cents an ounce a bulk bottle of Purell runs at Target. Granted, hand sanitizer is in short supply right now, but you might want to compare this to your national brands before you buy.

There is another difference between Aldi hand sanitizer and this one. Aldi hand sanitizer contains 70% ethyl alcohol (also known as ethanol), while in this Clean N Fresh alcohol is 62%.

Ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)

Does that 8% matter? It’s hard to say. Technically, the CDC recommends at least 60% for hand sanitizer, so the Clean N Fresh is above federal guidelines. However, there is evidence that a few germs are more effectively killed by a 70% alcohol concentration, and most major brands, including Purell and Germ-X, use the same 70% formula that Aldi’s Source Hand Sanitizer does.

In addition to ethyl alcohol, this hand sanitizer contains:

• water
• carbomer, used as part of gel formulation
• diisopropylamine, which is not found in Aldi’s Source Hand Sanitizer but is in some other hand sanitizers; I’m not sure what its role is
• glycerin, a gel that is a central ingredient in any hand sanitizer (including homemade ones)
• isopropyl myristate, which helps with skin absorption

In terms of use, it has the smell and feel of most other hand sanitizers. The bottle is easy to use and the gel has a pretty good consistency.

The Verdict:

Clean N Fresh Instant Hand Sanitizer is an option if you can’t find Aldi-brand hand sanitizer. However, given the fact that 1) it’s fairly expensive and 2) it has a lower alcohol concentration than both Aldi hand sanitizer and most name brand options, this isn’t my first choice for hand sanitizer if other options are available.